we will transcend

my husband and i made it to small group last nite for the first time in years.  we just haven't been able to be a part for a combo of reasons but the time seemed right for us to join the human race again in this particular venue. we anticipated encouragement would be waiting as we got out of our self-absorption and interacted with others we knew would be transparent about their lives. we ate a meal together, laughed and when it came time for requests there was the sincere transparency i hoped for. burdens were unfettered like chains falling off and i could sense the relief as we went around the room taking turns sharing.

this morning when i checked my email, my sis-in-law had sent me a wonderful link to a u tube must-see. all my she said was "for you."

here's the link and it relates well to the reason i need connection with you, we went to church last nite, and about transcending life together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

speaking of cliche's

i LOVE cliche's.  (if there's a way to put the ' where it goes, i dunno how.)

seems in the last few years, i've found myself using them more and more so i requested a book for one gift occasion and favorite daughter (only daughter) supplied! the title is "the facts on file dictionary of CLICHE'S second edition: meanings and origins of thousands of terms and expressions." 2006, by the christine ammer, 1992 trust.

better late than never. let's start with that one since it was the title of my last blog.

pg. 31. a time-honored rationalization for tardiness. it can be traced to greek and latin writers, including the historian livy, and appears in several early english proverb collections.  the full proverb is sometimes stated, "better late than never, but better never late."  there are versions in numerous other languages as well."

sorta disagrees with what i said doesn't it?

better late than never

i don't know about you but as i get older, my birthday wishes, cards, calls aren't as on time as they used to be. not just for birthdays, it might be a grief note or thinking of you, any type of correspondence. and, by the way, i still believe in paper in the mail with stamps correspondence. i hope that art never dies out completely in this computer age.

but the point today is not that, it's really that it's never too late to send that note or even give that gift. i had a birthday recently and i was thinking about a gift i received last year A YEAR LATE.  that was probably the most memorable gift i'll ever receive (tho not the giver's intention). it was a gorgeous, white orchid (with green stem and leaves!). my aunt was not too shy once she realized she missed my b-day the previous year and so she sent the plant A YEAR LATER.

don't ever think "it's too late, i'm too embarrassed, i'll just forget-about-it." go ahead and do it! the person(s) will appreciate the loving deed no matter when it's done. i surely did and still do, a year afterwards. 

texting and our new president

yesterday, right before the new president barak h. obama was sworn into office, i received this text from miss ellen:

God bless America! Where we can have a peaceful transition of power from 2 competing ideologies.

i was thankful to be home and able to watch the proceedings, the parts i was interested in. not in this order, but i was privileged to watch the swearing in, the invocation by rick warren (wonderful that obama chose this very conservative man in spite of the controversy it would bring), the benediction in rhyme by the elderly joseph e. lowrey ending in lots of amens which you know i loved!, the beautiful quartet (no one better than yo-yo ma on cello and itzhak perlman on violin) and poetry reading by elizabeth alexander, the singing of "our country tis of thee" (by aretha franklin, if i'm not mistaken) and the playing of our national anthem by the u.s. navy band.

it was all so beautiful and awe inspiring.  and exponentially so if one is of the doctrinal belief that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass and puts men in positions of authority over us. i'm grateful scripture says not to put our trust in princes, chariots or horses (among others) but put our trust in the name of the Lord our God. obama has a huge task before him and i would be afraid - no matter who was sworn in yesterday -  except for knowing our God is trustworthy in all things. He is actually the President we didn't vote for. He'll never run for office. He is and was and always will be.

correction

i incorrectly spelled miss annie chaires' name in my earlier blog. it is spelled cheairs. her 89 y/o brother-in-law, dr. carl wenger, went to heaven last week and it was a privilege to attend his funeral on saturday where his 3 children spoke.  i found her name spelled the right way. so i thought i'd print a correction. sorry annie, but i know you were used to that your whole life!

green

i love green. 

i don't mean going green as in eco-friendly green but it could end up that way, one never knows.

yesterday for lunch i ate green guacamole in a green bowl with green chips (i kid you not. thus the idea for this blog was born.). we painted our living room in our previous home with a rich beautiful green, the color was grape leaf. as soon as we can get to it, we're going to paint the brown front door to our new-to-us home green and our master bedroom green (it's currently a very dark designer slate and i do mean d a r k).

i just realized that in our home, i have 7 - count 'em - 7 green rugs! and since this house is bigger than the last, look for more.....i have a few empty floors to fill (no carpet here and i'm so happy, no offense meant to you carpet lovers).

i was thrilled when i walked into "my" alanon room several years back and the worker bees behind the scene had painted the whole room.....light green! i don't know why green was chosen but my immediate interpretation was:  green for growth, even if it's slow, faith stretching growth but there's lots that takes place in these rooms and green is an appropriate, hopeful color for those walls.

pretty soon we'll have spring greens to feast our eyes on. i don't mean the kind you eat but i can just hear my mama saying "you mean like a mess of greens we can eat? or polk sallet i can pick and fry up a mess of?" all different colors and shades of green when spring arrives. it'll be marvelous to see the beautiful changes from winter to spring, not that i mind the other seasons at all, there's purpose in each. 

i have lotz of house plants that are.....green! (at least the ones that survive me and those surviving kitty viva now, she's very hard on green.) i can't live without my plants.  they're like my babies. i talk to them. don't you? several didn't do well in the move. one was a tree of sorts i'd had for 17 years and i lost half of it. it's only half the green it was. another had 3 stalks before the move, now it has 1. :(

finally, behind our home we have what we like to call our very own 100 acre woods.  so far they are beautifully wintry looking of course, replete with coyote noises at nite time and even daytime howls can be heard. (tangent: once our whole family was awakened in the nite as if there was a pack fighting in our living room!) we are looking forward to the green to come in those woods and since our house sits up on a hill, we'll be able to look out at those woods and be reminded of the importance of green and it'll be like a slice of green heaven to me.

there's healing in green. i just know there's got to be because the Word says our Father is our Vinedresser. the Son is the Vine.  we are the branches.  if we abide in Him, we shall bear much fruit but apart from Him we can do nothing. we need green. our life depends upon it. think i'm taking green a bit too far? i don't think so. look around. think again!

this is a test of the emergency broadcast system

just kidding for those of you who remember that age-old test. but this is a test of a sort. 

the last time i posted seems forever ago. well, that day mr. blogger did a funny thing. i wish he was a person i could call and say "help!" when i had a question. i posted something on a monday, january 12 entitled "thursday's blog." that came out fine.

then on tuesday, jan 13, i posted "the decision envelope" and instead of the heading being tuesday, january 13, it came up monday, january 12 again. not only that, it then erased the heading of monday, jan 12's blog as if i'd written two posts on the monday. if i wasn't an ocd type, then this would be no big deal but alas, things like this bug me.

it's a bit confuzzing to follow what i'm saying happened or unimportant to anyone but moi. suffice it to say now i'm a bit skiddish about blogging. imma publish this and see what happens right now and see it it's still broken so-to-speak.